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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Flashes Finish Sweep Of Falcons With, 6-1, Victory On Sunday
April 20, 2008 | Baseball
April 20, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Much like Saturday, the Kent State Golden Flashes got another solid pitching performance out of one of their weekend starters, as right-hander Kyle Smith allowed just one run on four hits, while fanning eight batters, as KSU finished a three-game weekend sweep of the Bowling Green State University baseball team with a 6-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Warren E. Steller Field. Smith's effort was again backed up by early run support as the Flashes once again jumped out to an early lead, going up 3-0 after the top half of the third inning on as they never trailed on way to their 11th-straight victory.
With the win, the Flashes improved to 21-15 overall and 7-5 in the Mid-American Conference, while the Falcons fell to 17-16 and 6-6, respectively. They added to it in top of the third when
Earning the win on the hill for KSU was Smith, who was outstanding on the day, improving his record to 6-1 on the year. The sophomore went eight full innings and scattered all four BG hits as he walked just two on 103 total pitches.
Smith gave way to left-hander Jon Pokorny then in the final inning, who allowed a hit and struck out two.
KSU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top half of the first thanks to a two-run homer by Anthony Gallas. They added to it in the top of the third when Doug Sanders led-off the inning with a solo shot to left that increased the lead to 3-0.
That would be where Falcon starter Kevin Leady started to settle down and gave his teammates a chance to get back in the game. After allowing the Flashes two runs on two hits in the first, the Sanders homer would be the only hit the right-hander would allow till the seventh inning.
With Leady getting more comfortable on the mound, the Falcons battled back in the home half of the fourth to plate their lone run of the game. Brian Hangbers led-off the inning with a walk just before Derek Spencer reached on a fielder's choice.
With Spencer on and with one out, a groundout to Smith by David Borcherdt got Spencer in scoring position for Chris Gacom. Gacom took advantage of the situation, as the Sagamore, Ohio native drilled 1-0 pitch down the left field line for an RBI-double that brought home Spencer to cut the KSU lead to 3-1.
Like Leady though, Smith was getting comfortable on the hill himself, as after the Falcon half of the fourth, he would allow just one hit the rest of the way.
The Flashes recorded their fourth run thanks to two hit by pitches and a walk that loaded the bases for Gallas in the fifth. Leady got Gallas to fly out to right center on the play, but couldn't stop the runner on third from scoring as Gallas platted his third runner of the afternoon on the sacrifice fly.
KSU went on to finish the game's scoring, platting single runs in the seventh and ninth, as their win moved them into first place in the MAC East Division, while the Falcons remain just a game behind of the new leaders.
Pacing BG on the day was Gacom, who finished his day 1-for-3 at the plate and collected BG's lone RBI. Also collecting single hits were Andrew Foster, Logan Meisler, Ryan Schlater and Ryan Shay.
Earning the loss on the hill was Leady, who fell to 2-3 on the season, despite allowing just five runs on four hits. The Luckey, Ohio native struck out four in his sixth start of the year.
Leady was replaced by freshman right-hander Charles Wooten, who allowed a single run on four hits in the final two innings.
Leading the way at the plate for the Flashes was Sanders, who was the lone KSU batter to collect multiple-hits, going 2-for-4, accounting for two runs and driving in two others. Gallas then finished with a game-high three-RBI with his eighth homer of the season coming in the first and the sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The Falcon defense turned two double plays in the contest, while the Flashes turned one.
BG will return to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon when they play host to Albion, with a 3 p.m. scheduled first pitch. The game will be 1-of-2 mid-week contests at Steller Field as the Falcons will also play host to Oakland at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Live statistics for both games will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com, via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
